Match Report: Doha v’s Bahrain – Gulf Cup 11th Sep 09
As the late afternoon sun began to set in Bahrain, the Doha Men’s 1st XV stepped out onto the park to begin their 2009/2010 campaign in the first game of the season, a 1st round cup match against Bahrain, the reigning Gulf Cup Champions.
The close season has not been kind to Doha, with very little pre-season training and the news that long-standing head coach Kerry Hill decided to cut back on his involvement this year in order to concentrate on his professional studies. With only 3 weeks to go before the season kicked off both Aaron Palmer (AP) and Paul Caddick (Cads) volunteered to fill the void that Kerry had left and take on the duties of coaching the team. Unfortunately for AP he has had to fly the flag himself due to the absence of Cads on what must be deemed the longest vacation in the world……. rumours are that Cads, or as some are calling him ‘The Scarlet Pimpernel’, will be returning this week.
A new management team of Charlie Napier and Chris Benjamin, ably supported by Kerry (when not found with his head in his university books) will be looking after the off field matters this season.
It was encouraging to note that when the 1st XV resumed training two weeks ago many familiar faces reappeared having dusted off their boots. The team that stepped out onto the park in Bahrain fielded many of the familiar faces of last years squad, Croker, Porta, Liddington (newly appointed 1st XV Captain), Cramant, Balsom, Fitzgerald, Hibbs, Cotter, Quinn, Madec, Hamilton, Liddell and Moore, Wright, Kinsella and Nagle but as is usual with Gulf rugby many other notable faces were missing. We welcomed back Alex Potgieter to the team having managed to secure a job which allows him to travel for away matches, as well as new recruits Conor Coakley, Julius Cilliers, Andy Rowlstone and Raamy Schroeder.
Their was much anticipation amongst the Doha team about their first match, and confidence was high that despite the lack of training and the inclusion of new players, they stood a good chance of potentially beating the current cup holders, and avenge the thumping defeat inflicted on Doha last year when they last visited Bahrain. In the early exchanges honours were shared, but it was Doha who struck first blood in the fifth minute having been awarded a penalty just inside Bahrain’s 22 which Jimmy Cotter coolly slotted over, 3 – 0 to Doha. From the restart Bahrain immediately put a period of sustained pressure on Doha which was soaked up by a combination of good defence, solid scrummaging and lineout success enabling them to clear their lines.
Midway through the first half in one of Doha’s forages into the Bahrain half, another solid scrum saw Bahrain commit an offence and another penalty was awarded to Doha in front of the posts which Cotter once again slotted, 6 – 0 to Doha. Five minutes later came the turning point in the match. Following some good work in the middle of the Bahrain half by the forwards and some slick handling by the Doha backs Yves Madec crossed the line diving over for what we thought was a superb try in the corner. However our jubilation was to be cut short. Having awarded the try, the referee, after consultation with his linesmen, suddenly reversed the decision awarding a penalty to Bahrain for an alleged high tackle by Jimmy Hamilton on one of the Bahrain players. The Doha bench was left perplexed and confused as to whether or not the referee can overturn an awarded try. Anyway, from the resulting penalty kick Bahrain made good territorial ground into the Doha half, and following 3 consecutive infringements within a minute in loose play Bahrain were awarded a penalty which was slotted over the Doha posts. Instead of being 11 – 0 up, the score line read 6 – 3 to Doha, the disappointment was clearly visible on the faces of the Doha team.
To their credit Doha didn’t’ let this affect them too much and in the 28th minute they had stretched their lead back to 6 points through the boot of Jimmy Hamilton, superbly kicking a long range penalty from the 10-metre line just inside the Bahrain half which sailed over the Bahrain posts, 9 – 3 to Doha. In the 32nd minute following a Doha infringement in the lineout, Bahrain once again cut the Doha lead back to three points, slotting the resulting penalty over the bar, 9 – 6 to Doha.
The rest of the half remained pretty even with both teams foraging into each others halves but with no real success, the most notable events being an attempted drop goal by the Doha fly-half Wade Quinn (which threatened the worms on the ground more than it did the Bahrain posts), and a well worked Bahrain attack which nearly resulted in a try all be it for a poor pass to their winger which saw the ball tumbling over the touchline, much to the relief of the Doha bench and players. The referee’s whistle for half time was a welcome sound to the players having been restricted to any water intake during the first half, except for a water break after 20-minutes, due to Ramadan restrictions.
The second half started well for Bahrain putting the Doha defence under some pressure which paid off in the 42nd minute when some slick handling through their back division saw the Bahrain winger go over in the corner for the first try of the match. The subsequent conversion kick was missed and the score line remained 11 – 9 to Bahrain. The pressure from Bahrain continued and in the 46th minute they were awarded another penalty for a Doha infringement which was missed with the kick coming off the post, although this nearly resulted in a try had it not been for some frantic scrambling defence by Doha.
Much of the second half saw Bahrain camped in the Doha half severely testing the resilience of the their defence which at times was nearly breached by some good work by the Bahrain offence. It was clear to see as the game went on that Doha were beginning to tire, and coach A.P started to make some tactical changes putting on fresh legs with Kinsella replacing Balsom, and Schroeder replacing Madec. But it was only a matter of time before the inevitable happened and following periods of sustained pressure being put on Doha’s defence by Bahrain in the 60th minute they crossed the Doha line scoring a second try under the posts which was duly converted, 18 – 9 to Bahrain.
To Doha’s credit they refused to lie down and following the restart Doha’s full back Joey Moore made an excellent counter attack resulting in a penalty which was kicked to touch and saw Doha make a brief forage into the Bahrain 22. Unfortunately the line out throw-in was not straight which allowed Bahrain to clear their lines from the subsequent scrum. In the 68th minute Potgieter replaced debutant Conor Coakley who impressed in his first outing for Doha.
Doha continued to be put under pressure by a well drilled and much fitter Bahrain team, but in the 74th minute in one of their few second half incursions into the Bahrain half, Doha put together a wonderful flowing move which saw the ball float along the back line only for winger Danny Liddell to drop the ball with the line gaping in front of him.
Coach A.P continued to ring the changes amongst the team with another debutant Andy Rowlstone and Johnny Wright replacing Danny Liddell and Mark Hibbs respectively. But Bahrain had not finished and in the last minute of the game, following a quick throw in and some slack defending by Doha they once again crossed the Doha line scoring a try under the posts which was duly converted. This was the final action of the match and the referees whistle came as much relief to both sets of players in what had been a well fought match in very hot conditions. It was clear to see that the lack of training affected the Doha team who were deservedly beaten by a much more fitter and well drilled Bahrain team, the final score of 25 – 9 to Bahrain.
Despite this loss, the Doha team remain very confident and upbeat about their performance with far more positives to come out of the match than negatives. Hopefully with the combination of good attendance at training, the return of key players from last season and some fitness training from Cads, then it will not be long before Doha are back to their winning ways.
It is important to emphasise the need to have a healthy, competitive squad of players especially as this season there are more fixtures scheduled into a shorter time frame. Every member of the squad is important, and we cannot emphasise enough the need for everyone to attend the training sessions on Mondays and Wednesdays if we are to achieve our goal of winning the Premiership League.
In the meantime the 1st XV squad will be embarking on their cultural tour to Germany next weekend before kick starting their league campaign with an away trip to Kuwait on the 25th October.